Social Change Movement: Rachel Carson was a supporter of the Environmental Movement. She not only focused on this movement, but was also concerned with it as a global issue. Carson mainly focused on the problems environmentally and also conservative that were caused by synthetic pesticides.
Purpose in pushing for social change: The main thing that caused Rachel Carson to want environmental change was the use of synthetic pesticides. She started out just by supporting the admiration of the beauty of the natural world, but after World War II her focus became on synthetic pesticides. She sought to inform and warn the nation of the effects long term that would come as a result of misusing these pesticides. Her book Silent Spring challenged the government and agricultural scientists and asked for a change in how everyone viewed the world.
Occupation and socio-economic background: Rachel Carson started out he career as a federally employed marine biologist, and then eventually became a full time nature writer. She wrote bestselling books The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and Under the Sea Wind. Later when she became focused on the problems caused by pesticides, she wrote the book Silent Spring which brought her concerns up the the American people.
Arguments: Rachel Carson argued that pesticides are harmful to the environment because they harm way more than just the targeted pests. She also said in her book that pesticides could be directly linked to cancer, human pesticide poisoning, and other illnesses. Carson proposed a biotic (caused by living organisms) approach to the problem of pests, as this would stop the weakening of the ecosystem because of pesticides. In addition, she genuinely supported the simple admiration of the beauty of nature itself.
Friends/Foes: Those friends of Rachel Carson were others that were pushing the environmental movement like Paul R. Ehrlich and Barry Commoner. The most opposing towards Rachel Carson who could be considered foes would be the chemical industry along with the government itself. They were the ones who she was actually fighting against, because the chemical industry caused the pesticide problem, and the government did nothing about it.
References: Lyndon Johnson- pushed environmental movement as well Ralph Nader- concerned with environmentalism
Dorothy Freeman- shared same views on nature and conservation
Works Cited:
Rachel Carson Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. (*primary source) "Rachel Carson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson>.
"RachelCarson.org :: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson."RachelCarson.org :: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. <http://www.rachelcarson.org/>.
Rachel Carson
Social Change Movement:Rachel Carson was a supporter of the Environmental Movement. She not only focused on this movement, but was also concerned with it as a global issue. Carson mainly focused on the problems environmentally and also conservative that were caused by synthetic pesticides.
Purpose in pushing for social change:
The main thing that caused Rachel Carson to want environmental change was the use of synthetic pesticides. She started out just by supporting the admiration of the beauty of the natural world, but after World War II her focus became on synthetic pesticides. She sought to inform and warn the nation of the effects long term that would come as a result of misusing these pesticides. Her book Silent Spring challenged the government and agricultural scientists and asked for a change in how everyone viewed the world.
Occupation and socio-economic background:
Rachel Carson started out he career as a federally employed marine biologist, and then eventually became a full time nature writer. She wrote bestselling books The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and Under the Sea Wind. Later when she became focused on the problems caused by pesticides, she wrote the book Silent Spring which brought her concerns up the the American people.
Arguments:
Rachel Carson argued that pesticides are harmful to the environment because they harm way more than just the targeted pests. She also said in her book that pesticides could be directly linked to cancer, human pesticide poisoning, and other illnesses. Carson proposed a biotic (caused by living organisms) approach to the problem of pests, as this would stop the weakening of the ecosystem because of pesticides. In addition, she genuinely supported the simple admiration of the beauty of nature itself.
Friends/Foes:
Those friends of Rachel Carson were others that were pushing the environmental movement like Paul R. Ehrlich and Barry Commoner. The most opposing towards Rachel Carson who could be considered foes would be the chemical industry along with the government itself. They were the ones who she was actually fighting against, because the chemical industry caused the pesticide problem, and the government did nothing about it.
References:
Lyndon Johnson- pushed environmental movement as well
Ralph Nader- concerned with environmentalism
Dorothy Freeman- shared same views on nature and conservation
Works Cited:
Rachel Carson Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. (*primary source)
"Rachel Carson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson>.
"RachelCarson.org :: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson."RachelCarson.org :: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. <http://www.rachelcarson.org/>.